Jogger Slashed In Van Cortland Park

Bronx

By Geoffrey Croft

A Bronx resident was slashed while jogging in Van Cortlandt Park on Tuesday night according to police.

The victim, 29, was running in the park near Putnam Trail South at approximately 7:30 p.m. when two black two males in their mid twenties approached him.  One of the attackers slashed the runner on his right cheek with an unknown weapon.  He suffered a 2-inch laceration. 

The victim refused medical attention.

The assailants fled into the woods.

One of the attackers was described approximately 6 feet tall with a small afro and wearing a red Adidas hooded sweatshirt. 

Police have no description of the second assailant.

The incident occurred within the confines of the 50 Pct. 

Central Park: Free Ice Skating On Pond Returns! Other Boroughs Not So Lucky

Bring Your Own Skates.  Tim Davey and son Vann, 5, play hockey on the Conservatory Water in Central Park, the park system's only free outdoor ice skating pond available to the public.    With icy temperatures expected to return beginning next week after a brief respite,  the pond is expected to be frozen over for the immediate future.   Ice skating was the first activity in Central Park when it opened in 1858,  twelve years before the park was completed.  (Photos: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Park Advocates) click on images to enlarge)

City-Wide

By Geoffrey Croft  

One of the most delightful, and free, winter fun activities is to skate outdoors among nature.

And for those who have their own ice skates — or are able to borrow them –  a little slice of winter heaven exists in Central Park.

As the public knows ice skating is strictly prohibited on the Parks Department's numerous waterbodies due to safety concerns and for good reason:  the risk of falling through the ice and getting hurt or worse is also too real. 

Each season one park prepares for the possibility that winter just might get cold enough to allow skating on one of its ponds.  

This is the year.

For the past several weeks the public has been quietly using the park's famed model/sail boat pond near 73rd street near Fifth Avenue to ice skate.

The Conservatory Water,  as it is officially known,  is normally 3 to 4 feet but each year the Central Park Conservancy cleans the pond and, borrowing a page from the past,   drains the water to a depth of 1 foot in the winter months in order to facilitate a solid and safe bed of ice.  (The Parks Department requires the ice be at least 6 inches deep to allow skating)     

The Conservancy also builds a wooden ramp so people can access the pond.

This week Tim Davey and his son Vann, 5 1/2,  enthusiastically cleared the snow covered surface with a broom and shovel so they could play.   

"I saw a couple of people out here the other day,  it was news to me that you could even do this," said Mr. Davey, a father of three who lives a few blocks way. 

"It was great, we were loving it.  We loved shoveling off the snow to make our own hockey rink," he said. 

After a large enough section was cleared an impromptu pick up hockey game broke out that included Maxy,  14 a student from the UN School, and Emmet, a 10- year-old visiting from  southern California.   While walking with his mom Emmet saw the action, borrowed a broom and made his way onto the smooth ice wearing sneekers and began playing goalie.

For Tim's son Vann it was the first time he played stick and puck. 

"He didn't want to leave after four and a half hours, he was having a great time."

Even his 2-year-old daughter Teagan made an appearance on skates. 

Two nearby concessions stands serve hot chocolate and snacks.  

On February 6th, the Conservancy tweeted out: RARE OPPORTUNITY! Conservatory Water OPEN this w/e for skating!! BYO skates. Ice not groomed. Do NOT go on any other frozen waterbody!!!

Up in Crotona Park in the Bronx, the situation is quite different.

Although Indian Lake was also built for the same activities as in Central Park  the once popular ice skating activities and lake boat rentals were abandoned many decades ago.  

Several garbage cans are embedded into the ice at Indian Lake in Crotona Park, once a popular ice skating destination in the Bronx.

  

With no dedicated maintenance staff the impacts are obvious. Several garbage cans tossed into the pond remain frozen in the water. Several bright red wooden ice rescue ladders are littered on the snowy landscape. 

The red brick Parks Department building that replaced the wooden warning huts for skating is still there but no such programs are offered.  Today Park Rangers have to shoo kids away from the dangerous icy waters. 

Sign Of The Times.

During the Bloomberg administration the Parks Department established  "safe skating" sites throughout the five boroughs.  

A Parks Department spokesman said there are no plans to establish such sites this winter.

Free outdoor skating options in the city's parks are basically non-existent today, but that wasn't always the case.  

Skating in Central Park for instance has a long and storied past.   One of the first parts of the park to open to the public was the skating pond, now called The Lake, in the winter of 1858-1859, twelve years before the park was completed.   The Lake was actually designed to accommodate this activity in the winter, and for boating in the summer. 

In order to help ensure proper skating conditions, and safety, The Lake was designed so it could be drained to a level that helped ensure that the would ice froze every year. The 20-acre water body was labeled on park designers Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux's original Greensward plan as a "skating pond." This was the park's first recreational activity when the park opened and it immediately attracted parkgoers in droves.

Long before Zambonis people swept the ice to make it clear for skating.  There were ice skating warming “huts” along water’s edge where park patrons could leave their shoes while skating.  Parks Department workers would raise the flag to indicate it was safe to skate. 

Skating competitions were a popular attraction.     

According to the Central Park Conservancy when Central Park first opened more people came in the winter than in any other season….largely to skate.

Today some have a hard time orienting themselves when they see the iconic late 19th century photos of the throngs of people skating on the Lake with the famous Dakota building towering alone on Central Park West in the background. 

The iconic photographs of ice skating in Central Park (1898) with the Dakota building (1884) in the then non-existent skyline along Central Park West. The Lake was designed to so it could be drained to a level that would ensure public safety as well so it could freeze each year.  

Agnes Tait’s Skating in Central Park, 1934. The Pond (59th Street and Fifth Avenue) and The Lake (W.72nd Street) were very popular locations for ice skating in Central Park. 

But Central Park was hardly the only spot.  Tens of thousands of people once flocked annually to skating sites that once dotted the park system. The city built concession stands for skaters as well as for those who used the ice for other winter activities such as curling, yes curling! 

In the Bronx skating sites included Van Cortlandt Park and Crotona Park. 

"During the winter when the lake was thick enough to support skaters,  "Parkee" Solomon,  would raise the flag (a red ball on a white field) near the boathouse to indicate that skating was permissible," Daniel Wolfe writes. 

"Whenever that flag was up, homework was benched. I would grab my skates, dash across Boston Road,  pass P.S. 61,  round the corner at Charlotte Street,  pass the playground on my left and run to the Indian Lake in Crotona Park."

Curling,  Van Cortlandt Park  (Photo by Bain News Service/via Library of Congress) 

Brooklyn sites included McCarren Park, Prospect Park, Sunset Park, and Commodore Barry Park. 

The Brooklyn Parks Department annual report of 1920 notes that in Prospect Park, the Boat House was converted to a Skate House which also offered coffee and snacks, the Parks Department notes.  

Today the Prospect Alliance has been allowed to seize the historic building and rents it out for private parties.   In 2014 the Alliance raked in $346,210 for 68 parties, records show. The landmark building, renovated with millions in taxpayer funds, was closed to the public on weekends starting in April 2013.

Read More:

Ice Skating - Central Park in New York City 1800s-1900s

JUST SKATE! PARKS OFFERS SAFE-SKATING SPOTS FOR ALL TO ENJOY

The Daily Plant -  January 28,  2003

Prospect Park Alliance Shuts Audubon Center At The Boathouse

To Rent It Out For Private Events

A Walk In The Park - April 15, 2013 - By Geoffrey Croft 

Croton Water Filtration Plant Costs Continue To Skyrocket To $ 3.7 Billion

The initial (city) estimate was a lowball. ”-  Independent Budget Office (IBO)



A driving range is being built on top to replace the one seized during construction. (Photo: NYC Department of Environmental Protection)

Bloomberg's Folly. The Croton Water Filtration Plant in the Bronx is nearing completion.  Total costs associated with the project have ballooned to $ 3.7 billion according to the IBO,
up from an estimated cost of $992 million in 2003. 

The federal government ordered New York City to build a filtration plant for its Croton water supply.  Three potential sites were considered including the Mosholu Golf Course in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx.

In 2003, the Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) estimated the cost of constructing the Croton Filtration Plant at Mosholu to be $992 million, according to the IBO. 

Site preparation began in 2004 and plant construction started last year. In 2008 plant construction costs were estimated to be $2.2 billion, a 119 percent increase and total costs for the project including amenities such as parks, and mitigation measures was estimated to exceed $3.1 billion dollars.

The EIS for the project concluded that the Mosholu site was the best choice for several reasons. Among them, IBO notes,  was the $992 million estimated construction cost was cheaper there than elsewhere, even including $243 million in mitigation and amenities, which were much higher than the $40– $50 million required for these components at other sites including Eastview in Westchester County,  a site many people preferred.

- Geoffrey Croft 

Bronx

The cost of a city plan to build a massive water filtration plant under Van Cortlandt Park continues to balloon, according to new estimates, the Daily News reports. 

The Croton Water Filtration Plant — planned to clean a significant portion of the city’s water supply when it finally opens — is now estimated to cost taxpayers a whopping $3.7 billion, the city Independent Budget Office reported this week.

When the federally-mandated plan was finalized, in 2004, the cost was pegged at just over $1 billion. The last estimate, in 2011, put the cost at $3.5 billion.  The long-delayed construction is now projected to be finished sometime around 2017, and it’s still unclear when the plant would be operational. It was supposed to be opened in 2011.

“The initial (city) estimate was a lowball,” said Doug Teresky, chief of staff of the Independent Budget Office, noting that former Mayor Bloomberg pledged $200 million in related park improvements that will cost more than initially estimated. 

Read More:

Croton Water Filtration Plant costs skyrocket to new high, says report
from Independent Budget Office

New York Daily News -  November 26, 2014 - By Ben Kochman  

The Price of Filtered Water Goes Up

WNYC - November 26, 2014 - By Matthew Schuerman 

Body Found Stabbed Mutiple Times Van Cortlandt Park

Bronx

By Geoffrey Croft

A 62-year-old man was found stabbed 10 times in the left forearm, left shoulder and chest

in  Van Cortlandt Park NYC Park Adovcates had learned.

The shirtless body was found by a jogger in a wooded area just beyond a fence that separates the golf course. 

The jogger ran onto the golf course and borrowed a cell from a player and called police.

A worker recognized the victim, who may be homeless,  as a man who collected and re-sold golf balls hit over the fence.

Police are looking for the partner he worked with however he is not considered a suspect at this time.

Police have no ID on the victim yet.

Police are investigating the stabbing death of a man found inside Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, according to the Associated Press.

Officers responding to a call found the unidentified victim unconscious and unresponsive with multiple stab wounds to his torso at about 7:30 p.m. Thursday.

The 40- to 50-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene.

There have been no arrests.

In Crotona Park an 18-year-old woman reported being raped early Thursday morning.  

Read More:

Residents question safety of New York City parks after murder

in Van Cortlandt Park, alleged rape in Crotona Park

News12 - The Bronx -  June 28, 2013 - By Jessica Formoso

Man found stabbed to death in Bronx park 

Associated Press -  June 28, 2013 

Van Cortlandt Park Sexual Exposer Caught

Bronx

By Geoffrey Croft

Park police caught a serial public masturbator in Van Cortlandt Park NYC Park Advocates has learned.

The Parks Department had gotten several complaints from the public and from park employees about a man touching himself in Van Cortlandt Park.

On Sunday alert PEP officers driving down Broadway spotted a red car with Virginia plates parked on the street at  252nd St. & Broadway that matched the description given by witnesses in previous encounters.  

From the street officers could see a lone figure standing in the woods.

He was positioned about 50 feet from a pedestrian path where passersby including women and children were plainly in view.

The officers approached the man and caught him in the act. He was wearing a latex surgical glove. The officers found dozens of discarded surgical gloves all over the ground. 

When Officers escorted the Spanish speaking 50 year-old man back to his car to retrieve his ID they found plastic gloves strewn all over his car including on the steering wheel.  The key was in  the ignition.  

He was issued a criminal court summons for sexual activity in public.  

He is due in court on May 30th.

City Pulls Plug On Van Cortlandt Park Skating Rink

Even The Seasonal Skating Rink Was Cancelled For This Year. During his State of the City Address on January 19th last year, Mayor Bloomberg promised the 1.4 million Bronx residents - the only borough that does not have a public ice skating rink - they would have one this year but that did not materialize. In an effort to deflect criticism from Bloomberg's upcoming address the administration was planning to erect a small temporary rink for 29 days. That plan just fell through.

Bronx

There will be no ice-skating in the Bronx this winter.

After months of delays, the Department of Parks and Recreation says the electrical upgrade needed to operate a skating rink will not be completed in time to operate this season, according to the Riverdale Review and Bronx Press.

This puts a black eye on Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the Van Cortlandt Park Conservancy, who partnered together to bring a full-size rink to the Bronx, Bloomberg said in his 2011 State of the City address at the beginning of this year.

"Parks has explored every possible means of bringing ice skating to the Bronx this winter. The engineering and capital construction issues involved with bringing the power needed for a skating rink make it necessary to forgo, for this season, what we had hoped would be a fun activity for all,” Bronx Parks Commissioner Hector Aponte.

The electrical hookup, needed for a rink of any size, will require the installation of an underground vault that will not be ready this winter.

Jump below for the full story.

The conservancy had been discussing the rink’s logistics with Con Edison and Ice Rink Events as far back as summer 2010.

The initial plans for the borough’s only skating rink were delayed time and time again, and when it appeared too late for this year, the parks department attempted to save face by offering the community a temporary, smaller skating rink that would only run this season. However, this irked the community board, because the new, smaller rink did not have to go through a public hearing.

Last week, Community Board 8 overwhelmingly passed a resolution that stated they “deplore” the parks department’s decision “to circumvent the public-review process by installing a “mini” rink in Van Cortlandt Park.”

The “mini” rink would be a permit project, meaning it could have only operated for 29 days and would not have to go through an approval process.

The community board had scheduled and subsequently cancelled five public hearings to discuss the plans for the initial rink—a 15-year, seasonal skating rink that needs to go before the Franchise and Concessions Review Committee (FCRC).

Community Board 8 was also planning on holding a public forum on the rink in January; it is unclear if they will go forth with the hearing. Either way, the board will continue to monitor the full-size rink’s progress and, when the plans go before the city’s FCRC, will offer a recommendation to the committee.

The FCRC has the only vote on the project.

“In that process, we do have a say,” said Community Board 8 parks committee chairman Bob Bender. “We are notified before any proposal goes to the FCRC.”

“We do have an opportunity to give our opinion,” he added.

Aponte says the city will attempt to bring a rink to the area next year.

“We continue to work with the community, Con Edison, and Ice Rink Events to finalize plans to deliver a full-size rink in time for a full season of skating beginning next fall,” he said.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz, a stern critic of the way the parks department has handled the public’s requests for more information, said he hopes this new, longer delay will give the city a chance to complete this project hand in hand with the community.

“While I am disappointed that the Bronx will not have a skating rink this winter, this delay presents a golden opportunity to do this the right way,” he said. “I have consistently been supportive of the Bronx having an ice skating rink, but I have been critical of the closed and undemocratic process being used to implement it. Since we live in a democracy, a democratic process isn't asking too much."

Community board member Charles Moerdler said the delay of the project is a victory for the process, which was of a major concern for the board after the parks department continued to withhold information about the rink.

“That is an unfortunate thing for the community, but a good thing for the public process,” he said.

Shane Coppola, CEO of American Skating Entertainment Centers (ASEC), was irked that the city was going to allow Ice Rink Events to see how well the project works before making the long-term commitment.

Coppola also estimates that the fixed costs to build the rink is between $50,000 and $75,000, not including personnel, electricity, payment to the city and other variable costs. He also didn’t expect to see Ice Rink Events turn a profit in the 29-day rink.

“If you’re not open by Christmas, you're in trouble,” he said in a phone interview.

Read More:

City pulls plug on Bronx skating rink

Riverdale Review and Bronx Press - December 21, 2011 - By Brendan McHugh

Bronx Residents Upset Over Bloomberg/Parks Dept Ice Staking Rink Slight

A Walk In The Park - December 13, 2011

Free Ride - Unstable Arrangement At Van Cortlandt Park Equestrian Centre

Betsy Smith's Revenue and Concession Dept. On the Hot Seat Again

"The (John Liu) audit gives voice to a growing concern among city labor groups and advocates that the park’s concessions are being mismanaged under Assistant Parks Commissioner Betsy Smith, a friend and neighbor of Mayor Bloomberg’s. Parks vendors account for 91 percent of the city’s concession revenue, yet oversight is minimal."

"Parks has over 400 concessions and a limited number of auditors and thus we must prioritize the use of our auditing resources,” said a Parks Department agency spokesman.

Cowboy, a horse at the Riverdale Equestrian Center in Van Cortlandt Park, W. 254th St. and Broadway in the Bronx. The city isn't taking boarding fees for 43 stalls at the center. A Parks Department audit also found that Rusty Holzer’s company, Catango Corporation, failed to charge boarding fees for 12 stalls housing personal horses and neglected to collect revenue from riding lessons by an unapproved operator, piling up more than $100,000 in debt to taxpayers from 2007 to 2009. Parks says in has no plans to audit Catango or pursue debts incurred prior to 2007. (Photo: Enid Alvarez/New York Daily News)

Bronx

Talk about a free ride: The city is giving away Bronx stable stalls to horses that compete in the Olympic Games for Canada, according the New York Daily News.

The Parks Department is forgoing boarding fees from 43 stalls at the Riverdale Equestrian Centre in Van Cortlandt Park, including several that house horses owned by Canadian equestrian Ashley Holzer, the Daily News has learned. The agency claims the horses “raise the profile” of the sparkling facility on Broadway.

But not everyone agrees.

“The fact that there are Canadian Olympic horses at the Riverdale Equestrian Centre — I don’t see how that benefits the taxpayers in any way,” said Bob Bender, Community Board 8 parks committee chairman.

United States Olympic hopefuls also train at the center, said Holzer. She has competed at three Olympic Games for Canada and is the wife of Rusty Holzer, who runs the center for Parks as a concession.

Her husband is the son of Andy Warhol muse Baby Jane Holzer. Parks has allowed the Holzers to stable the Olympic horses for free since 1998, according to a recent audit by the agency.

The Parks audit also found that Rusty Holzer’s company, Catango Corporation, failed to charge boarding fees for 12 stalls housing personal horses and neglected to collect revenue from riding lessons by an unapproved operator, piling up more than $100,000 in debt to taxpayers from 2007 to 2009.

Meanwhile, a new audit by City Controller John Liu states that better management of Parks concessions from 2008 to 2010 could have yielded $8.8 million more in revenue for the city.

Rather than collect Catango’s debt, Parks has asked Holzer to repay taxpayers by making more than $100,000 in improvements at the center. The agency has no plans to audit Catango or pursue debts incurred prior to 2007.

“Parks has over 400 concessions and a limited number of auditors and thus we must prioritize the use of our auditing resources,” said an agency spokesman.

Bender called the agency’s response “troubling.”

“Maybe it makes sense to hire a few more auditors,” he said.

Most of the stalls without boarding fees house lesson horses that generate revenue and are used in programs for children and adults with special needs, said the Parks spokesman. The stalls also house Parks police horses. “Parks does not believe that the license agreement prohibits this arrangement,” said the spokesman.

The agency claims the arrangement has not interfered with public demand for the stalls because the stables are not at capacity. Catango is required to remove non-paying horses to make room for paying horses if necessary. Catango has exceeded its $1 million capital commitment by more than $600,000, according to Parks, greatly upgrading what was a shabby facility.

“We run the finest equestrian center in New York City,” said Rusty Holzer, calling it “a feather in the cap” of the Parks Department and the city.

Read More:

Unstable arrangement: NYC housing horses that compete in Olympics -

for Canada- for free!,

Questions about why taxpayer bucks are helping Canada

New York Daily News - December 16 2011 -

By Daniel Beekman

Parks Dept. Lost Millions In Conssesion Revenue Due To Poor Management - Audit

A Walk In The Park - December 6, 2011

Travesty on the Green! Empty Tavern Cost City $2.2 M

The New York Observer - December 7, 2011 - By Kat Stoeffel

Bronx Residents Upset Over Bloomberg/Parks Dept Ice Staking Rink Slight

People enjoying the ice skating at Bryant Park in Manhattan where admission is free for people who bring skates. In the Bronx admission for a temporary rink to be installed on a handball court In Van Cortlandt Park near Broadway and West 242nd Street will be $5 dollars. Daniel Biederman, head of the Bryant Park Restoration Corp is behind both rinks.

During his State of the City Address on January 19th last year, Mayor Bloomberg promised the 1.4 million Bronx residents - the only borough that does not have a public ice skating rink - they would have one this year but that has not materialized. In an effort to deflect criticism from Bloomberg's upcoming address the administration is planning to erect a small temporary rink for 29 days. Despite repeated assurances from the Parks Department that the rink issue would come before the board, Bronx community Board 8 were recently informed that was not going to happen.

On Tuesday, CB 8 overwhelmingly passed a resolution deploring the parks department for circumnavigating the public-review process by introducing a smaller, temporary rink that only needs a permit to operate.

- Geoffrey Croft

Transparency in the Bloomberg administration is once again being called into question over the Van Cortlandt Park ice skating rink issue. This time controversy has arisen over a plan to build a temporary rink in time for Bloomberg's next State of City Address. Last year from Staten Island, Bloomberg announced the city's intention of allowing the building a seasonal rink in the park. However the administration did not see fit to inform the community. They finally presented the plan to Bronx Community Board 8’s Parks & Recreation Committee on Feb. 23, more than a month after Bloomberg's announcement.

Bronx

The Bronx could finally be getting the ice skating rink that Mayor Bloomberg promised the borough last January - but without formal community input. Local leaders are upset they won't get to vet how the facility is run, according to the New York Daily News.

"The agency has decided to circumvent the public process," said Bob Bender, Community Board 8 parks committee chairman. "It concerns me greatly."

The Parks Department had planned to install a full-size rink on unused tennis courts in Van Cortlandt Park by November, but the agency is still negotiating with the company slated to run the facility, and the proposal has yet to go before the city Franchise Concession and Review Committee.

In the meantime, Parks has asked the company to install a smaller rink in Van Cortlandt Park in January and operate it for as few as four weeks under a “temporary” permit not subject to public review, said Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe.

"We are trying to do what we can to honor a longstanding request from the Bronx," he said. "Skating is a great way to exercise and enjoy the outdoors."

Bloomberg promised the Bronx a rink in his State of the City speech last January, thrilling borough ice skating fans. The Bronx is the only borough without a public rink, while Manhattan has five and Brooklyn three.

Parks last spring selected Ice Rink Events - the company that operates the Bryant Park rink in Manhattan - to build a full-size rink in Van Cortlandt Park for use during the winter and operate it under contract for 15 years.

Board 8 intends to hold a public hearing when the full-size rink proposal is ready for review and brought before the FCRC.

"We want to know how much it will cost and how much rink time will be available to the public as opposed to private schools in the community," Bender said.

But he claims Parks is now skating past the review process.

Benepe said the full-size rink has been delayed due to technical issues and noted that Parks recently presented its temporary plan to Board 8, even though no disclosure was required.

But Geoffrey Croft of New York City Park Advocates slammed the agency for "pushing through a poor substitute."

Croft claims Parks is desperate to install a rink before the mayor's next State of the City, in January. "It seems like they need the mayor to save face and mean to avoid community input," Croft said.

Parks plans to charge $5-8 for admission and $5 for skate rental at the temporary rink, said Bender. Benepe said the full-size rink plan enjoys "overwhelming support" from locals, citing an online survey conducted by Board 8.

But Croft called the proposed prices at the temporary rink unreasonable, noting that the Bryant Park rink frequented by "wealthy people and tourists" is free.

Read More:

Bronx could finally get public ice skating rink next month - in nick of time

for Bloomberg’s big speech

Bronx is only borough without public ice rink

New York Daily News - December 13 2011 - By Daniel Beekman

Bronx Board 8 "deplores" process with temporary ice rink in Van Cortlandt

Bronx Press Politics - December 14, 2011 - By Brendan McHugh

Plan de pista de hielo en El Bronx, en riesgo de derretirse

El Diario NY - December 14, 2011 - Por Gloria Medina/EDLP

Lack Of Transparency Over In Van Cortlandt Park Ice Rink Charged

A Walk In The Park - March 17, 2011 - By Geoffrey Croft

Van Cortlandt Parade Grounds Cricket Fields Re-Opening Delayed Again

Danger Keep Out. Van Cortlandt Parade Grounds - Bronx. More DPR Capital problems. Renovations began in 2009. The fields were slated to open last spring, but numerous issues have caused the project to be delayed. The fields will now be closed until fall of 2012. The project is part of a $15 million renovation of the 65-acre Parade Grounds, however the park's baseball and soccer fields reopened in 2010. Critics say the Parks Department is treating cricket like a second-class sport:

"For baseball or soccer I'm quite sure they would have made other arrangements," Milford Lewis, president of the New York Cricket League, fumed.

(Photo: Geoffrey Croft/NYC Par k Advocates) Click on image to enlarge.

Bronx

Bronx parkgoers and cricket players are getting crabby about renovation delays at theVan Cortlandt Park Parade Grounds.

The Parks Department won't reopen eight cricket fields until next fall because the renovated Parade Grounds contain weeds and crab grass, said an agency spokesman, according to the New York Daily news.

The renovations began in 2009 and the fields were slated to open last spring. But the Parks Department contractor hired to reseed the turf has botched the job twice, said Bob Bender, Community Board 8 parks committee chairman.

Now, the cricket fields will remain closed for a third straight spring season.

"When we heard, we were devastated," said Milford Lewis, president of the New York Cricket League. "I don't know if my league will survive."

Before the renovations began, the Riverdale park adjacent to Broadway was a mecca for cricket players from around New York, including immigrants from the United Kingdom, South Asia and the West Indies. The Parade Grounds boast 10 fields for the popular international game. Two of them reopened last July.

Two major cricket groups, the New York Cricket League and Commonwealth Cricket League, use the sprawling park.

The $15 million renovation of the 65-acre Parade Grounds began in 2008 and is mostly complete. The park's baseball and soccer fields reopened in 2010.

But the cricket fields remained closed last spring due to bare patches of turf. They were reseeded over the summer, but still contain weeds. Now the contractor will try again, this time with more Parks oversight.

"I understand that Parks wants the contractor to do the job right," Bender said. "But being deprived of part of the Parade Grounds for an additional year is a tremendous blow to the community and the cricket players.

"Parks has really dropped the ball here," he said.

But Bender is concerned that the third time won't be the charm. He said the cricket players would rather play on crab grass and weeds than not play at all.

"The grass may not be exactly what [Parks] wanted, but there's no shortage of it," he said. "We can't wait for it to be perfect."

The renovations are being paid for through the $240 million Croton Water Filtration Plant mitigation fund, created to offset the impact of building the facility in another part of Van Cortlandt Park.

Lewis said his league was unable to play at all last spring and summer. Parks is treating cricket like a second-class sport, he said.

"For baseball or soccer I'm quite sure they would have made other arrangements," he fumed.

Members of the cricket league are getting crabby that delays in rennovations will keep the eight cricket courts at Parade Grounds closed until fall of 2012. (Photo: Todd Maisel/ NY Daily News)

Read More:

Van Cortlandt Parade Grounds re-opening delayed until next fall, angering Cricket teams & Bronxites

New York Daily News - October 11th 2011 - By Daniel Beekman